Electricity and Control October 2021

INDUSTRY 4.0 + IIOT

Digitalisation, edge computing and the cloud Digitalisation introduces the benefits of more insight into production processes, increased visualisation and analysis of data and the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the root causes of unexpected downtime or production bottlenecks. Here, Johannesburg-based Omron Industrial Automation presents some of the ways in which digitalisation and the data it provides can best be used.

A mong the benefits of digitalisation – in addition to offering greater connectivity of devices at plant level – is its potential to exchange data with other systems and make it possible to monitor plants remotely, in more depth, over greater distances and longer periods than has been possible previously. Manufacturing traceability, for example, would traditionally have been achieved via paper-based batch recording, and product level traceability would not have been achievable without digital technology. Predictive maintenance could be achieved, but only via periodic monitoring of devices. Digitalisation brings with it a host of valuable new functions which make use of the data that probably already existed on the production line but was stranded in disparate systems. At its most simplistic, digitalisation is about integrating devices to gain information about them that helps rectify problems. Its potential goes much further, and the benefits of digitising systems are widespread, extending across an enterprise. Visualisation can provide greater insight into how productive and efficient a manufacturing plant is. Barriers One of the biggest barriers to adopting digital technology relates to the fact that operational technology (OT) has traditionally been designed around the need for machine optimisation, employing architectures and networks that drive optimal performance in machines. Because any digitalisation project’s success relies on the convergence of IT and OT worlds, there has been a need for OT technology to evolve so that it can integrate with wider business operations and today, modern machine control solutions incorporate IT functionality. OMRON’s Sysmac controller, for example, includes direct SQL database connectivity and can also be provided with OPC-UA as well as MQTT, all of which allow for a simple and seamless method of sending operational information from machine level to the IT environment and vice versa. Middleware solutions which, where necessary, can act as a gateway to connect legacy devices to the IT world, are also now available. Data handling solutions On-premises servers can offer a good data handling solution for applications that need fast access to data.

Processing data at the edge – close to the device itself – offers real-time operational benefits. When it comes to connecting the OT environment to the rest of the world, security is often a concern. However, if the intention is to analyse and store data in an on-premises IT server, security is likely already provided by the factory firewall or existing security infrastructure. However, because any connection point may be a potential security threat, there are always some security measures that need to be implemented. OMRON has addressed this issue through the use of ‘trusted certificates’ – a recognised IT security measure. The trusted certification is unique to the OT device on which it resides and can be easily identified by the IT server. The downside of on-premises servers is that they are not able to store infinite amounts of data, so if an application requires huge amounts of data to be processed, a cloud- based server offers a better solution – although this will require more stringent security measures. The cloud can provide a scalable data storage solution that is not limited by capacity and does not require architecture changes if storage needs change. The downside of cloud-based servers is that they cannot provide a real-time connection. There will always be some latency in processing and reacting to data. Considering the options of data storage platforms, different solutions offer benefits in different applications. Tasks such as production visualisation lend themselves well to the use of on-premises servers because less data needs to be stored, and less data processing is required. Predictive maintenance requires large amounts of data

Electricity + Control OCTOBER 2021

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